Mount Royal College - Varshicom Yearbook (Calgary, Alberta Canada)

Page 6 text:

Architect’s sketch of the proposed KERBY MEMORIAL BUILDING

Page 5 text:

fyo4jew u By JOHN HENDERSON GARDEN, B.A., B.D., Principal I am pleased to send this little foreword forth with the 35th Yearbook of Mount Royal College. How much we have appreciated you who are our students of what we hope may be the year of victory. In fact Mount Royal College waited thirty-five years for you, and the College is very hopeful that you may make a very special contribution in building a better world. This has been a year of deep significance in the work of the College. There has been enrolled the largest group of students ever to attend and yet the work has progressed with a smoothness and harmony that has been reflected in the high standard of marks obtained. There has been lots of fun and good fellowship but through all there has been a note of seriousness re¬ flecting the titanic struggle that has been taking place throughout the world and leading everyone to make the best of his time so that he may be better fitted for the new day following peace. The year has passed quickly. It just seems like yesterday since we came to the College last Fall somewhat nervous but with high expectations. Today we are going forth with a clearer vision of the tasks that lie before us and better equipped to meet them. A great challenge comes to us all to so live and give such leadership that the sacrifices of our comrades may not be in vain. We have remembered with apprecia tion the names of our former students and members of the staff who are serving in the war and have grieved deeply as some of the finest have paid the supreme sacrifice. “They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old, Age shall not wither them nor the years contemn, But at the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.” We deeply mourn their loss, but pledge ourselves anew to make real their vision of a better world, remembering that— “What builds a nation’s pillars high And its foundations strong ? Men who for truth and honor’s sake Stand fast and suffer long. Brave men, who work, while others sleep, Who dare while others fly — They build a nation’s pillars deep And lift them to the sky.”

Page 7 text:

dedication M O NE YEAR AGO we dedicated the Yearbook to the late Dr. G. W. Kerby, our beloved Principal Emeritus. This year we are proud to dedicate this book to the proposed Kerby Memorial building which is to be erected to the memory of Dr. G. W. and Mrs. Kerby. This building will not only be a fitting memorial to the founders of the College but will also provide much needed accommodation. The plan is to concentrate classrooms, laboratories, administrative offices and an up-to-date gymnasium in the new building while the present plant will be renovated and changed to provide more residential facilities and improved studios for the Conservatory of Music. In the main hall of the Kerby Memorial building there will be a special memorial section preserving the photographs of Dr. G. W. and Mrs. Kerby and other historic pictures and documents concerning them. There will also be a book of remembrance telling of the life and work of Dr. G. W. and Mrs. Kerby and recording for future reference the names of all contributors to the Kerby Memorial Building. It is the desire of the College Board to preserve for succeeding generations of students something of the spirit of the Kerbys and to memorialize their supreme work in Calgary which was the founding and establishing of Mount Royal Junior College. The following editorials that appeared in the Calgary papers will indicate how heartily the community has endorsed this idea of a Kerby Memorial building. The Calgary Daily Herald, December 4th, 1944, said: “No finer memorial could be erected in honor of the late Dr. G. W. Kerby than the $100,000 build¬ ing planned by the governors of Mount Royal College. Its construction has become imperative because of the continuous expansion of the College’s acti¬ vities, and when completed will bear the name ‘Kerby Memorial Building’. This institution fills an important role in the province’s educational system. It provides facilities for carrying students through the first two years of their University course and it also has courses in musical instruction and other branches. It is in every sense of the word a junior university, and the high type of instruc¬ tion is evidenced in the many scholarships and other awards won by its students.” “Dr. Kerby spent many years in this city, much to the community’s benefit. In Mount Royal College he left to it a centre of learning of which all citizens are proud. It is highly fitting that his name and memory should be perpetuated for many years to come by what will be a fine memorial building, dedicated to the work in which he was most interested.” The Calgary Morning Albertan, December 5th, 1944, said: “The idea of this memorial seems a very happy one. Dr. and Mrs. Kerby founded Mount Royal College and it is probable the school was their favourite among the many enterprises which they organized in Calgary. An extension of the College building to take care of the steadily increasing enrolment would be an ideal memorial for this pioneer clergyman and educator. The’project will certainly receive the support of the people of Calgary.” The proposed Kerby Memorial Building will enable Mount Royal to render better service to the youth of Calgary and Southern Alberta by furnishing up-to-date facilities and making possible an extension of the work the College is carrying on. We students of this year greatly appreciate what the College has done for us and heartily congratulate those who will follow on the improved accommodations that the Kerby Memorial building will provide and we are glad that the spirit of Dr. G. W. and Mrs. Kerby will be preserved for succeed¬ ing groups of students. 5